Thermal ink-jet pens comprise a reservoir of ink and a printhead for expelling droplets of the ink onto a print medium, such as paper. The printhead includes resistor elements located in firing chambers fed with a supply of ink from a plenum chamber, which is fluidically connected to the ink reservoir. Resistor elements are selectively heated to expel the droplets of ink from the firing chamber through an orifice in an orifice plate.
During fabrication of the printhead, there are a number of elements in the process that either are expensive or have the potential to result in an inferior product. For example, complex vision systems are currently required to align the orifice plate to the resistors during assembly of the printhead. The better the alignment, the better the print quality. A simple method of alignment, coupled with a high degree of precision, would be desirable.
Another recurring problem is adhesion of the orifice plate to the substrate, on which the resistors are formed. Delamination can occur from residual stresses. A present goal is improved adhesion of the orifice plate to the substrate.
While current manufacturing techniques offer marginal alignment for consistent print quality, they are costly. Thus, a need remains for an improved process for aligning the orifice plate so that the orifi therein line up with the resistors.